London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: British Cyclist Clancy on Track for Olympic Gold

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For so long the quiet power behind Great Britain’s team pursuit squad, Ed Clancy rode to individual world championship glory on Sunday with a performance of bewildering dominance in the men’s omnium.

That the 25-year-old experienced the full glare of the limelight was due to an agonising defeat in the women’s keirin final for Victoria Pendleton, who lost out on a second gold medal in as many days by the width of a tyre. That would have denied Clancy his moment. His explosive burst of speed within an endurance event perfectly fits the profile of the omnium, cycling’s equivalent of the decathlon and heptathlon disciplines in athletics.

With five elements in a single day - essentially three time trials over different distances and two bunch races - it tests even the strongest of bodies. For Clancy, it was the first omnium of his life, making the achievement even more remarkable. He didn’t even have a bunch race bike when he was selected for the event three weeks ago. Olympic champion in the team pursuit in Beijing, the Yorkshireman collected asilver in that event in the Ballerup Super Arena on Friday and admitted he had struggled to overcome the disappointment of that result.

Clancy said: ‘It’s my first individual medal and one that I didn’t really think I would get. It’s just a bit bizarre. It felt like a hangover the day after the team pursuit and that wasn’t just because I raided the bar. You just feel so down when you lose by such a small margin having worked so hard for it. ‘I’ve never done a flying 200m sprint before or been in a bunch race at world standard before and, man, was I in for a shock. The points race turned out to be the hardest 40 laps of my life.’ With the omnium having been added to the Olympic programme for 2012, the dilemma for Clancy now is whether to stay true to his team pursuit roots or go for the iron man discipline, which in the Olympics will be over six events spread across five days. He added: ‘Those who know me know that I live and die for the team pursuit. That’s in my heart and what gets me out of bed. But then after today it makes you think about the omnium, for sure.’

Pendleton’s silver to the gold of Simona Krupeckaite took a photo and a protest over the Lithuanian girl’s racing line to decide. It meant that Britain finished in second place in the world championships medal table, comfortably behind Australia’s impressive haul of six golds.
That was across all 19 world championship events. However, take account of solely the 10 Olympic disciplines and a different picture emerges, with Britain winning eight medals to Australia’s five, three golds apiece.

Director of British Cycling Dave Brailsford insisted that it is the proper gauge of the progress that is being made towards re-establishing the dominance of Beijing and that the time to judge is not now, at the midpoint of the Olympic cycle, but in London in two years’ time. He said: ‘You can’t get blinded by the stats. My job isn’t to win every event in the world championships. We took a strategic decision to come here and ride the Olympic events with relatively new line-ups in some of them to see where we are at. ‘Why did we not enter a rider in every event at the world championships? It’s a valid point, but we’re an Olympic team, looking to perform in that home Olympics and our strategy is ruthlessly built around doing exactly that. ‘The competition has increased, which is a good thing. We can’t step off the gas. New Zealand have moved forward, but they, the French sprinters, the Germans and the Aussies are absolutely flat out here.

‘This isn’t everything that we’ve got. We’re not quite foot to the floor yet. To try and do that for four years is hard. You need to be cyclical with it. We weren’t the top nation at this point in the Olympic cycle four years ago. Are we in good shape? We’re in terrific shape.'

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

Tickets on Sale: London 2012 Summer Olympic Games

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Olympic organisers have started pre-registration to sell tickets to the London 2012 summer games. While signing up online does not guarantee a pass, it is a shortcut to the public ballot for 75 per cent of tickets. ‘Anyone who signs up will be in pole position,’ said Paul Deighton, London 2012 chief executive on Monday.

‘The aim is to make the process as easy as possible and get people thinking about which events they want to watch from all the different Olympic and Paralympic sports. We expect people to be more interested in tickets for some events than others. ‘There is no fairer way for people to get in line for those tickets than by public ballot.’ Originally, there were to be 7.7million tickets for the Olympics and 1.5million for the Paralympic Games but the figure has now risen to 8million and 2million, on sale from next spring. Mr Deighton stayed tight-lipped about prices but said there would be ‘millions of affordable and accessible tickets’. Critics have long bemoaned that tickets are generously distributed to sponsors, Olympic committee members, and government officials yet real fans receive few affordable tickets.

Sadly, hospitality tickets will account for less than one per cent of passes on sale. Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds said it was important true sports fans would be in the crowd, adding: ‘It will be good for the atmosphere. My friends are all interested in tickets and want to see me. I bet there will be lots of people who will want to see events at a home Olympics and Paralympics.’

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Et tu sponsor?

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Since the Los Angeles games in 1983, or the McGames referring to over-sponsorship, London Summer Games Organisers have been at pains to balance much-needed sponsorship revenues with, well good taste. Enter Adidas.

Adidas became London 2012's third sponsor in a deal worth more than $201 million. Adidas becomes the official sportswear partner for the games and also will provide clothing for the 70,000 volunteers and officials. The deal also covered sponsorship for clothing and equipment used by British athletes for the 2008 Beijing Games, the recent 2010 Vancouver Games and 2012 London Games. "No other host city has made such progress in its domestic sponsorship five years out from the games," London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said.

Adidas flew in world champions Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix for a glossy London launch and the pair ran on a mock racing track on the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to highlight the deal. The sponsorship announcement also featured five-time Olympic goal medalist Nadia Comeneci. England soccer star David Beckham also made an appearance via a hologram -- speaking of his joy competing in front of crowds in his native London. Adidas joins British bank Lloyds TSB, which has signed up as a banking and insurance partner, and EDF Energy, which has the utilities sponsorship. London hopes to name a fourth sponsor by Christmas. The other categories are telecoms, automotive, airline, oil and gas and a clothing and homeware manufacturer.

The top-tier sponsors will help raise $4 billion for the London Olympic organizing committee.
"It's a really important commercial message as well," Coe said. "It's not just the importance of coming to the table with serious help, in terms of helping us deliver our financial commitments. These are partners coming to the table that can bring other levels of expertise. A separate budget for venues, infrastructure and regeneration projects total $18.6 billion. Adidas chief executive officer Herbert Hainer said the sponsorship was the biggest single investment that the German company had made in the British market. He said he wanted Adidas to be the leading ports brand in Britain and the largest sportswear maker in Europe.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.